Dutch rule that Samsung nicked Apple ideas

A Dutch court has ruled that some of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy smartphones and tablets infringe an Apple patent. The court ordered Samsung Electronics to pay Apple damages, determined by how much profit it has made from the sales.

The patent dispute concerns the Android operating system versions 2.2.1 to 3.0 used on Samsung's Galaxy tablets and smartphones. Samsung and Apple are locked in patent war which was started when Apple CEO Steve Jobs became convinced that he had invented the rounded rectangle and that all others copied him.

The case escalated from there with Apple convincing some courts and Samsung swaying others. So far only the laywers are the winners as neither has managed to get any products actually banned. Samsung won a court case last month in the Netherlands, when a Dutch court ruled the company did not infringe an Apple patent by using certain multi-touch techniques on some of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablet computers.